Four Tours and Seven Days Ago...
Or, Why I've Been Not Writing a Damn Thing For Weeks On-End
Seriously
Now, I know I don’t owe anyone anything, but I like to fulfill my stated obligations as much as possible and I originally told you all that I’d write at least weekly, most likely 2-3x weekly across multiple post sections. BTW, for those who weren’t aware I have multiple sections to which you can subscribe — it’s not all or nothing, either: pick the one(s) you wanna follow!
So, if you’re getting too many notifications or don’t particularly care about my crowdfunding suggestions or comics reviews, you can just follow this main Section, and not the rest. But at least try them all! 🙃
I Got Sick
Yeah, it happens. Thankfully I wasn’t in the middle of fulfillment for a campaign, because I would’ve trudged through it, but getting the rest was actually kinda nice. Our littles were sick, too, and my wife left me… for the weekend. She took our twins to Manhattan for New York Fashion Week (our 24yo was walking the runway on their birthday).
Chicago That Toddlin’ Town
Barely a half-day of feeling well again, and I started my Squirrel Tour of Duty. First stop: Rosemont, Illinois (just outside of O’Hare Airport) for three days of work meetings. Great times with co-workers, and highly productive, so no complaints but…
For Baltimore
I got home from Rosemont a little after midnight on Wednesday 10/18. Unpacked, went to bed, woke up, swapped my rental car for my rental SUV, loaded it up with my comics, equipment, swag, and clothing and headed for Baltimore Comic-con!
Dinner with Howard & Friends
After 3hrs on the road we got to the convention center hotel, grabbed our con badges, parked the car in the garage, then unloaded into our room. As soon as we were settled into the room, we grabbed our convention stuff out of the car and headed toward the venue.
Once we were set-up and high-fived a couple of friends, we headed back to get ready for dinner.
It’s always wonderful to hang out with Howard, Dean, Brad, Whitney, Todd, Chris, Emily, and Desirée (and of course, Sydney!), but it was also super-nice to meet Todd’s wife Sharon, Michael, Jim, and the legendary Don Simpson! Everyone was just great and we shared many laughs, great food, excellent wine, and… well, we closed the place down. LOL
Oh! And Suzanne got “adopted” by Chaykin as his new daughter. 😂
Had a BLAST on both panels, too! Finally got to meet the wonderful Karl Kesel & Ron Randall, as well as the affable and delightful Jimmy Palmiotti.
(Somehow I didn’t end up with pics of the first panel with Alex Segura, Dean Haspiel, Sean Von Gorman, Chris Miskiewicz, and well, me.)
The most important and joyful thing, for me, at Baltimore Comic-con every year is the people. Hands down.
(Yes, I always have a great show from a sales perspective, but nothing beats the people!)
Bar*Con! Homies! The Ringos!
Every night was Bar*Con, and it’s always a great time, of course. Hanging out with friends, meeting new ones, and wondering who’s going to drink too much tonight. 😆
Got to hang with homies & friends Anthony Stokes, Pat Shand, Travis & Heather Gibb, Trevor Fernandes-Lenkiewicz, Chris Moses, Wells Thompson (all-too briefly, those last two), the always delightful superfan Paperback Dan, and the Philly Phreaks Eddie Freiss and his awesome pops Ed Friess.
And I finally got to meet Sean Mack in person!!!!!
Also got to see Jeff & Phil Moy, my dawg Michael Katz, Michael Munshaw, and the aforementioned Karl Kesel & Ron Randall. I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with these two throughout the whole weekend, and I look forward to more times together! Ron was super-sweet and bought my Spider-Squirrel TPB vol. 1, even.
Kat Calamia & Phil Falco stopped by long enough to attend the Ringo Awards and I got to meet Phil’s fiancé Julius!!! I love these humans so hard, it was wonderful to see them again (and for Julius the first time)!!
No great show happens without the amazing Simonsons in attendance, and we were fortunate enough to be boothed across these two lovely humans again this year. (We were also across from Howard all weekend, which is doubly-wonderful, but he didn’t break into show tunes at all this time which left me slightly empty-feeling… Suzanne & I absolutely love Howard.)
We didn’t get much time with Walter & Weezie this year, but the after-show chats are always so enjoyable.
The Ringos were great, as always, and I got to know Don a bit better (he was at our table), which is great. Karl Kesel got me teary-eyed with his Mike Wieringo story, then Tom Raney made us all cry with his loss for words and his own teary eyed acceptance of his Kevin Brogan Fidelity Ringo Award while honoring the memory of his friend (Kevin Brogan).
Oh, I’m sure I forgot something and/or someones — it was a truly amazing and occasionally overwhelmingly fun weekend, to be sure! Come to Baltimore next October with us and see what it’s all about!!
Oh, I’m Not Done Yet
Nope. I was wise enough to take the Monday after Baltimore off so I can unwind a little, which I did. Kinda.
I unpacked from the show, then I had to pack… for a work trip to Durham (NC).
I basically took off a half-day to get prepped for Durham, then drove down (about 3hrs). After two days of meetings and work, I drove back home having missed our 28th wedding anniversary. 😫
We knew this was happening, but it didn’t take away the sting of missing my lovely wife for our day. I did get home late that evening, and we hung out for a bit before we both had to get to sleep (I had work the next day and she would teach school). We’ll celebrate later, all good.
Nightcare, Rook, American Yakuza Act III, and More In-Store!
While away, we wrapped up our campaign for Nightcare #3 with over 280% funding! We are prepping the Rook: Return to Sender campaign to hit prelaunch soon.
We also closed out our American Yakuza Act II campaign with books ordered and digital fulfillment already beginning, and Act III now LIVE on Kickstarter for prelaunch. FOLLOW THE CAMPAIGN!
That’s it for this round! I’ll be back with some crowdfunding recommendations, more American Yakuza goodness, more Blind Squirrel Comics announcements (including Spider-Squirrel & Trash Panda vol. 2!), and still more NEW titles to add to our fold!
Oh! Did we mention that Vito Delsante’s & Sean Izaakse’s STRAY is coming to Blind Squirrel Comics??? Well… IT IS!! Look for a new release and an omnibus collected edition soon!!